Our Sixth Form is doing amazing things
Welcome back to school for the second half of the autumn term. I hope you managed to have a good break from school and have enjoyed the festivities that this time of year brings. We have so much to look forward to with our students as we head into the winter months.
I want to feature our Sixth Form in this week’s blog because, as many of you know, I absolutely love working in a school with a Sixth Form provision. I enjoy having the older ones being around because they bring something unique and special to our school every day. Whilst we continue to have the highest expectations of them, we also adopt a more grown up, mature approach to their provision through such things as uniform, how they present themselves, the flexibility to leave the site during the day and to have later starts/earlier finishes if their timetable allows. Essentially, we allow them to grow whilst always being there for them to provide the nurturing, quality of teaching and tutoring they need and the support to help them through the times they find difficult to navigate as young adults. They are always around, always on hand to give support, advice and guidance to our younger students and it is such a joy to continue to watch them grow and develop through their latter teenage years. In short, they are very precious to me as are all our students.
Our Sixth Form offer has really evolved over recent years through our curriculum, our incredible personal development programme, our specialist team of tutors and the way they have a real say in how their Sixth Form operates. We have our Sixth Form Open Evening next week (Thursday 14 November) and it would be lovely for you to join us on the night to hear all about it first hand from staff, students and the Sixth Form team.
In terms of our curriculum, we continue to provide a wide range of subjects including English Literature, English Language, Maths and Further Maths, all the Sciences, Music, Art, Performing Arts, Sport, RE, History Geography, French, German, Business and Economics and so much more! This year we will be offering a new A Level in the form of Politics and we are extremely excited about the quality of the course and have an incredible team of staff who are already six months or more into the planning of that for September 2025.Our curriculum has evolved hugely over the past few years. It requires a high standard of academic ability because A Level study is often considered to be more demanding than GCSEs. But it also requires an honesty and determination from students who want to do well and secure their next steps into university, apprenticeships, volunteering and employment. It is for that reason that we have been thrilled with our recent results, this summer (2024) being the best in the history of our school with the average grade achieved being a B grade. That puts us in the top 10% of schools nationally and we are not done yet!
In terms of personal development (PD), I am absolutely convinced that we would provide the most incredible programme for our students from the moment they arrive at our Sixth Form until they leave. We have a planned curriculum that is centred around leadership and making the most of the plethora of opportunities we offer across the two years of study. In Year 12 all students are expected to use some of their non-teaching time to volunteer and in doing so, not only gain valuable experience but also give something back. Many of our students do this in school by helping in lower school lessons, through support for enrichment activities in either sport or the creative arts, or being involved with local primary schools, care homes, Hazelbeck school and so much more. The volunteering programme has been a feature of our provision for a few years now and is something that is always commented on by visitors, other schools and businesses.
Our PD programme has also evolved in recent years in other ways. For instance, in November we run our Futures month and this year the planned provision is stunning. For the whole month we dedicate our extended assembly slot to Careers talks, welcoming 10+ different visitors each week to speak to students about the world of work. Last year, we expanded this to include speakers from universities all over the UK, who came to share information about student life as well as a subject specific degree talks. This will be even better this month. As an example, this week we were joined by 2 guest speakers in English Literature and Language who spoke to our A Level students about English Degrees. The month also features visits and talks from local, national and international businesses, including Bevan Britton Law, Capitol Records, Jet2, The National Environment Agency, Yorkshire Social Services, NHS, West Yorkshire Police and the Academy of Live Technology who share their insights into the world of work, how to succeed in gaining employment in the various sectors, the importance of a good CV and so much more. 
This week we had speakers from the worlds if IT, music, Sport, and industry (including some of our parents who are leaders and employers in a wide range of areas). We have three more weeks that are laden with the most amazing speakers and opportunities for students including work from West Yorkshire Ambulance who will train all of our students on CPR and the use of a defibrillator. For me, the opportunities we are providing for our students to be exposed to the world that lies beyond Beckfoot is hugely important. To get them to think about themselves, their talents, interests and ambitions on a regular basis is what we are striving to do constantly. What could be more important than that?
As I near the end of this blog I am so excited to share with you some news that is hot off the press. As you know the levels of challenge and support we provide are something I am immensely proud of but I am also aware that, at times, we need to defer to the brilliance of others for such things as having an unrivalled insight into the world of our most prestigious universities and by that I mean Oxford, Cambridge and Russell Group universities, we sometimes have to do just that. Of course, we have superb links with many of our most noteworthy higher education establishments but this year we have gone even further. In October we had our link from Cambridge University speak to over 50 of our Year 10 and 11 students who are interested in applying to Oxbridge. They were amazed by the information they gleaned and the warmth of the speaker who made them feel like they would be welcome, that they would belong and that they had the ability to do magical things with their lives including going to either university. It was special because I often worry that students in our part of the world feel that the best universities are not for them. That is nonsense and we are determined to do something about that. This year we have been invited to be a part of the Lucy Cavendish Academic Attainment Programme. Lucy Cavendish College is one of the most diverse colleges in Cambridge, admitting over 90% of our UK students from state schools and their programme will provide around 1000 high-achieving state school students, from across the Uk, with comprehensive supplementary academic support tailored to their stage in the curriculum, giving them the best chance of achieving their full potential. The programme has proved beneficial for students in the past years, with 9 in 10 receiving offers to study at Russell Group universities, and over the past 2 years participants have almost doubled their chances of being offered a place at either Oxford or Cambridge.
At Beckfoot several of our students applied to be considered for the programme with six of them hearing this week that they were successful. We had no idea how many would apply or even if any of them would be successful. To have six gain a place on the programme is unbelievable and testament to the work that the Sixth Form team are doing to provide the absolute best academic and enrichment opportunities we can for our young people. I want to congratulate Eva, Evie, Lara, Joanna, Sragvini and Indervir. We are hugely proud of you as with all our students.
I guess the most important part of our Sixth Form is the manner in which our relationships with our students ensure that they understand the importance of being self-determined and really aware of the things that will make the biggest difference to them and their dreams and aspirations. The journey to becoming more independent and mature does not happen over the six-week holidays, how could it? It is a process that we understand fully and plan for. Our students know the quality of teaching they will get with us, the quality of support that goes alongside that, the levels of challenge, the multitude of opportunities we will give them and the expectations that they are always striving to be better every day. They know that we will care for them no matter what, that we will listen to them when they most need that from us and that we will never give up on them. Our Sixth Form is an incredibly special place, full of the most amazing and special young people. Our Sixth Form team, led by Dr Wright, understand the privileged position they have in school and they are the most ambitious and hard working staff I could wish for. The Sixth Form is really fizzing with an excitement in recent years and, in terms of our planning, we are only just beginning. There is so much more to come!
Take care and I hope to see many of you next Thursday at our Open Evening.
Simon Wade, Headteacher
